This year’s Team Ontario is the biggest team Ontario Boccia has ever sent to Canadian Boccia Championships, with five new athletes ready to have their debut performances. This includes two athletes from Ottawa, Bryce Desrochers (Ottawa, ON) and Joe Radmore (Ottawa, ON), where this year’s championships will take place.
Desrochers has this to say about competing on his home turf, “I am so excited to be competing at my first nationals this year because I’ve been training hard to make it to this next step in my boccia career. The fact that my first Canadian Championships are in my hometown means that I am going to have a ton of people supporting me live in Ottawa.”
Radmore has similar feelings heading into the event, “I am excited to be able to complete at my first Boccia nationals, five minutes from home. Knowing my friends and family are here and can come support me is a great feeling.”
Also new to the team this year is Provincial Team Coach, Tammy McLeod (London, ON), “The Canadian Boccia Championships means a great to deal to me as I competed for Team Ontario for over 20 years with great success. I am so excited to be going back, but this time as a Coach. I am thrilled to be working alongside the other two Team O Coaches to help the athletes succeed and reach the podium for Team Ontario. Team Ontario was the team to be reckoned with back in the day; I am so excited to be able to share my knowledge and experience to the team to help Team O athletes be on top in Canada again”. Tammy will be joined in Ottawa by returning Provincial Team Coaches, Logan White (Toronto, ON) and Tiffany Gaudette (Mississauga, ON).
2024 was a big year for some of the members of Team Ontario, as two of Ontario’s athletes represented Canada on the international stage. 2023 Canadian Boccia Championships gold medalist, Lance Cryderman (Sudbury, ON), competed at the 2024 Paris Paralympics in the Individual BC1 competition. In addition, Kyle Scott (Hamilton, ON) made his debut international debut at the World Boccia Challenger in Cali, Columbia earlier in October. Scott reflected on his experience in stating, “It is beyond words for me to convey my gratitude for being chosen as a ‘Rising Star.’ In my first international competition, I gained a great deal of valuable experience. It was an incredible experience to team up with Kristyn and Olivier for the first time and bring home the silver. As a participant in the World Boccia Challenger Cali 2024, I was exposed to new strategies, possibilities, potentials, and how to adapt when under pressure. It has been my dream to have this opportunity and now it has become a reality for me. In preparation for the Nationals, I hope to use the tools I gained at the international level and continue to improve to become an elite athlete”. Both athletes will now get to compete at the RA Centre in the BC1 individual and BC1/2 teams competitions.
Individual play will be November 14 to 16 and team and pair play will be November 16 and 17. You can keep up with the action and get the latest news on the event webpage.
2024 Team Ontario
*Athletes with a asterisk next to their name are making their Canadian Boccia Championships debut.
BC1
Lance Cryderman (Sudbury, ON)
Kyle Scott (Hamilton, ON)
Liza Puri* (London, ON)
BC2
Jim Davis (Thorold, ON)
Maggie Julien (Sudbury, ON)
Dominic Gomez (Toronto, ON)
BC3
Joshua Gautier (St. Catharines, ON)
Nico Iemma (Oshawa, ON)
Carter Plumb (Brampton, ON)
Bryce Desrochers* (Ottawa, ON)
BC4
Giovanni De Sero (Guelph, ON)
Martha Gustafson* (Toronto, ON)
BC5
Joe Radmore* (Ottawa, ON)
Julian Caverley* (Thorold, ON)
The Ontario Cerebral Palsy Sports Association (OCPSA) was founded in 1981 as a registered charitable organization for the delivery of sport to persons with cerebral palsy. Today, OCPSA is a leading sport organization in the province for persons with a disability, focused on sport development, participation and performance for athletes in Para-Athletics (Track and Field) and Boccia.
Organization Contact for Media Inquiries:
Juliana von Cramon, Program Manager
Ontario Cerebral Palsy Sports Association
juliana@ocpsa.com
